Package of tape



Sept. 30, 1969 H. G. wALz PACKAGE oF TAPE Filed March 24, 1967 F INVENTOIL l G 6 A44/@Pr 650/965 Maz BY d l l j Arra/P/vf/ Unite States Patent 3,469,680 PACKAGE GF TAPE Harry George Walz, Harrison, N.Y., assignor to The Borden Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Fiied Mar. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 625,696 Int. Cl. B65d 35/67, 65/16 U5. Cl. 266-52 1 Claim ABSTRACT F THE DISCLGSURE This invention relates to a package having an article of constant width within the package, and on at least the face of the package, a simulation of the width of the article within the package.

Background of the invention When a consumer desires to select an item, particularly one which is offered in several widths, and when the width of the item is of importance to the use to which the consumer intends to put the product, the consumer often cannot relate the language on the package, which sets forth the width, to the actual desired width. Often, the consumer makes an erroneous choice because he is unable to relate the printed legend relating to the width with the actual width of the item within the package.

The consumer is also prone to select an incorrect width because a package which contains an item such as masking tape having a width of 1/2 inch is often out of place and among a group of packages where the item, for example masking tape, is 3%; of an inch wide.

It is often difficult for the proprietor of an establishment which sells items of constant width such as masking tape, to detect the fact that packages of masking tape of one width are intermingled with packages of a different width.

Furthermore, when the manufacturer ships cartons of an item of constant width, the one unpacking and placing the items on the shelves will not always place items of the same width with one another so that packages containing items of different widths will become intermingled.

It is therefore an object of this invention to enable a consumer to choose an item having a desired width and to minimize the likelihood of the consumer erroneously selecting an item whose width differs from the width actually needed.

Another object of this invention is to enable the merchandiser to immediately detect packages which have an item therein whose width differs from the width of the items in a group of packages with which the first item is placed.

Other objects will become apparent from the following more complete description and claim.

Summary of the invention Broadly, this invention contemplates a package comprising a front wall, a back wall, and at least two side walls, said side walls connecting said front and said back wall to one another, all of said walls defining a cavity for enclosing an article therein, an article of substantially constant width disposed in said cavity, said package having on at least one wall a simulation of the width of said article within said package.

Detailed Description In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a package according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the package of FIGURE l;

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FIGURE 3 is a plan view of another embodiment of this invention;

FIGURE 4 is a side View of the embodiment of FIG- URE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an isometric View of another embodiment of this invention; and

FIGURE 6 is an isometric view of still another embodiment of this invention.

Referring to the drawing, FIGURE l shows one package of this invention.

An envelope 2 comprises a front wall 4, a back wall 6, and two side walls 8 and 10 respectively. The side walls 8 and 10 connect the front wall 4 to the back wall 6. An article 12, rolled up upon itself, such as tape, is disposed within the envelope 2. A stripe 14 extends across the front wall 4 of the package and across side wall 8. The stripe 14 has a -width substantially identical to the width of the article 12. The stripe 14 extends across the front wall 4 of the envelope 2 and across the side wall `8. In this manner, a consumer need only look at either the face (front wall 4) or a wall of the package to observe the actual width of the rolled article 12.

FIGURE 2 is a stack of packages of FIGURE 1 with one package, according to this invention, out of place. The envelope 18 which is out of place, has a stripe 22 extending across the side wall 20. As seen in FIGURE 2, the stripe 22 is narrower than the stripe 14 thereby indicating to the consumer that the envelope 18 contains an article whose width differs from the width of the articles contained in the stack of envelopes 2.

In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the stripe 14 is of a color contrasting with the color of the front wall 4 and the side wall 8. Moreover, the stripe need not be a continuous one but may be an interrupted stripe (not shown).

FIGURE 3 shows another embodiment of the invention. In the embodiment shown in FIGURE 3, a stripe 30 extends diagonally across the front wall 32 of the package 34 and across (FIGURE 4) the side wall 36 of the package 34.

If desired, the stripe may extend across one or both side walls and/or across the front wall of the package or envelope. Moreover, the stripe may extend across only the front wall or side wall, only the back wall or both the front and 4back walls and/ or side walls of the envelope or package.

The stripe itself may take numerous forms. It may -be a stripe composed of elongated letters of the proper height (not shown). Furthermore, the same type of printing ink may be used for the stripe as is used for the face of the package, or alternatively, the texture of the stripe may differ from the texture of the front wall and/or the side wall of the package, if the stripe is to extend across the side of the package. This may be accomplished by using a printing ink and/or method of printing which would give a smooth or rough surface, whichever is desired.

In FIGURE 5, a package 40 has a face 42, a back 44, and two side walls 46 and 48 respectively. In the embodiment of FIGURE 5, the stripe `50 is not printed on the package 40 itself. Instead, the stripe is printed on a transparent overwrap 52 in which the package 40 is encased. It will be noted that the stripe 50, which is printed on the overwrap 52, extends across the open end of the package 40 between side walls 46 and 48.

The stripe may perform functions other than to indicate the width of the article within the package. For example, FIGURE 6 illustrates another embodiment of the invention. In FIGURE 6 a package 60 comprises a front wall 62, a back wall (not shown) and side walls 64 and 66 (two other side walls not shown). In this embodiment,

the stripe, whose width is the same as the width of the article `within the package, is in the form of a tear strip V68. The tear strip 68 has a tab 70 extending from the package. The tab 70 is also of a width which is the same as the width of the article within the package 60. In this manner, the stripe serves to open the package 60 as well as to indicate the width of the article within the package.

Other types of packages may be used with this invention. For example, a stripe may be disposed across a socalled blister pack. By the term lblister pack is meant a package wherein an article is disposed on a card and. a plastic covering over the article is secured to the card, either adhesively or in some other manner. The blister pack would also have a face and at least two side walls, although the exact point at which the side walls and face began and ended would be discernible with ditiiculty.

The stripe may also be printed on a box which has four sidewalls such as a tuck flap box or a box which has a top Wall hingedly secured to either the front or back walls and adhesively or otherwise secured to one of the other walls so as to close up the top and bottom of the package.

The package may also comprise an envelope. By the term envelope is meant a container which is formed from a strip of packaging material having two ends and wherein the ends are adhesively secured to one another.

Additionally, the stripe may be printed on the container which is used to ship a plurality of packages according to this invention as well as on the packages Within the container themselves.

The various packages which are used may also be modified by having a window (not shown) inserted in the package to view the contents of the package as well as the stripe.

The package is useful for enclosing numerous articles such as articles rolled up upon themselves for example tape; articles which are in the form of layers such as ribbons; and numerous other articles which will `be apparent to one skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In an article receiving container of a substantially rectangular configuration having a relatively narrow thickness adapted to receive a reel of tape therein whose diameter is smaller than the width of said container and whose thickness is slightly less than the thickness of said container, a stripe defining approximately the width of the contained tape being entrained about said container at approximately the midpoint thereof and extending over at least one of the walls dening the thickness of said container whereby when a plurality of random-width tape containers are positioned in a stack having an aligned vertical face, the exposed stripes are vertically aligned to display the tape width in each container for identication.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 224,581 2/1880 Chipley 206-52 897,628 9/1908 King 206-49 1,135,110 4/1915 Hall 206-52 1,705,849 3/1929 Barber 206-45.33 1,816,598 7/1931 Martin. 2,433,663 12/ 1947 Hanson 40-312, X 2,518,711 8/1950 Mulford 2116-4531 2,576,070 11/1951 Howard. 3,174,621 3/1965 Watson. 3,313,194 4/1967 Hanscom.

866,211 9/1907 Morrison 20G-44.12 X 1,813,178 7/1931 Lindsley. 1,933,338 10/1933 Plishker 229-6 X 1,977,455 10/1934 Reinhold 229-8 2,511,708 6/1950 Hammond 116-67.2 2,708,066 5/1955 Caraher 206-52 X FOREIGN PATENTS 517,564 2/ 1940 Great Britain.

MARTHA L. RICE, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

